What percentage of containers does US Customs examine?

What the figure measures

Freight Benchmarks can’t see inside CBP. It sees the invoices: when a container is examined, the importer is billed for the exam site’s fees, the labor to open or unload the container, and the trucking to and from the exam site. The share above is the share of shipments that paid those exam charges. An exam that produced no charge on the invoices, or one the importer paid directly to the exam site, isn’t counted, so read the figure as a floor for how often containers are examined.

How CBP picks containers

US Customs and Border Protection doesn’t open containers at random. It reviews shipment data before the cargo arrives and focuses its examinations on the shipments its targeting flags. A flagged container can get a non-intrusive X-ray or gamma-ray scan (often called a VACIS exam), a tailgate exam where officers open the doors and look inside, or an intensive exam at a Centralized Examination Station, where the container is unloaded, checked and reloaded.

Who pays, and how much

The importer pays. Federal customs rules, 19 CFR 151.6, put the expense of preparing merchandise for examination on the importer. In Freight Benchmarks’ invoice data the median exam bill was $412 per shipment, the middle half ran from $134 to $880, and 1 in 10 was over $2,387. The range is wide because exams differ: a scan takes far less handling than unloading a whole container. Demurrage, per diem and storage that build up during the hold are counted under those fees, so the full cost of an exam is usually higher.

How the share has changed

The table below shows the share of shipments that paid exam charges by the year they were first invoiced: 1.6% for 2021, and each year since. Each year is weighted so no single importer can dominate it, and the latest year may be partial. The current figure on this page covers the rolling window in the data line above.

Lowering the odds

Clean, consistent paperwork is the part you control: an on-time ISF, an entry that matches the commercial invoice, precise descriptions and tariff classifications. New suppliers, new products and first shipments draw more attention, so budget for an exam there. CBP says importers in its CTPAT program are less likely to be examined.